Saturday, January 31, 2015

Inspired by Yabu-iri (Servant’s Day or “thicket entering”) - an obscure season marker for
spring or late New Year.

“On or about the sixteenth of the
first month, servants and apprentices were allowed to go home for a short
visit. This would have meant that the holiday started with the full moon.”

So, in Issa’s haiku:

ending the Servant’s Holiday
on purpose ...
sliver moon

“The final slip of moon means the
holiday is over, which tells us it lasted less than two weeks (Lanoue,
1991-2009: moon, 1803). There also was a
second servants’ holiday on the sixteenth of the sixth or seventh month, but
yabu-iri in haiku was codified as an early spring kigo (or late New Year kigo).” (Source)

Apprentices also had a “servant’s holiday”:

apprentice’s holiday:
a good-luck amulet
forgotten in the grass

Buson

**

If I recall correctly, “thicket-entering” is sort of like
saying the servants were headed home “in the sticks” or “in the boonies” as we would say here in the U.S.

Neat fact of the day:
“chipmunk” comes from the Ojibwe word “ajidamoo” (one who descends trees headlong).
They don’t really hibernate – they enter a state of deep torpor. I can hardly wait for our friendly
neighborhood chipmunk “Boxcar Willie” to return from his “long winter’s nap”!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

aware –

she nudges her dream

in a lucky direction

**

Inspired by Hatsuyume, the first dream of the year.

"Hatsuyume was extremely important
because it would foretell the dreamer’s luck for the upcoming year. “In Japan, the night of December 31 was often
passed without sleeping, thus the hatsuyume was often the dream seen the night
of January 1. This explains why January 2 (the day after the night of the
"first dream") is known as Hatsuyume in the traditional Japanese
calendar.”